


A Soul for Sithis

by Nudebeme



Series: Chac and Cicero [28]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-09 09:39:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3244898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nudebeme/pseuds/Nudebeme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To Cicero, it was just another soul waiting to serve Sithis, but for Chac, it was everything he could imagine that was wrong with his life. But it is through this difference that Cicero slowly relearns what it is to feel mercy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Soul for Sithis

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an anonymous prompt for man tears.

"Grah!" Cicero grunted, pulling his blade out from the chest of a Forsworn warrior’s chest, blood gushing hot against his Jester tunic. What an absolute bloodbath! Cicero was pleased "Stupid Forsworn! Cicero’s shown you what for!" Sheathing his ebony blade, he took a deep breath, admiring the smell of blood and fire in the air. 

He couldn’t be happier. Killing was something Cicero had desperately missed in his life, all that pent up bloodlust was finally let free in the company of the Listener, his dear friend. The craggy canyons of Markarth where rife with fresh prey, and this was the fourth Forsworn camp they’ve cleared in days. Prancing his way out into the campsite, a song in his heart, Cicero finally noticed that the Dragonborn was nowhere to be found. 

Chac was a mighty warrior, 185 years of battle has made him ferocious. His enemies, these fallen Forsworn, where just another 10 tallies on his endless list of kills. Killing had somehow never become a chore for him, Cicero remembers seeing Chac tear the heart straight from a Briarheart warrior and hold it before the man’s face as the light faded from his eyes. 

Cicero liked him. Immensely. Listener was  _just_  like him, he’s learned. 

"Oh Listener~" He sings, calling out to the elf that had suddenly vanished. Leaping his way down the short cliffside, there are bearskin huts and bodies strewn about. "Another 10 souls for Sithis, Have you been counting? Cicero hasn’t missed a single one!" 

Nothing. 

But he listened closer. From the tent the Jester heard something akin to a whimper, perhaps a survivor that needed finishing off? Smiling madly, the Imperial peeked inside. What he saw purely confused him. 

His Listener was huddled over what looked like a pair of legs. Little ones. The elf’s shoulders shook, his head tucked low into the body he held. Cicero tiptoed his way inside “What’s this you’ve found?…oh!” The elf looked up to him, and Cicero gawked to the sight of tears streaming down Chac’s face. Anguish unlike anything Cicero’s ever seen on him before was plain on his features, and instead of a word, all that the elf could utter was a choked sob. 

"Listener! Why do you cry?" 

"Look at him." Chac shivered "I killed him, Cicero. He’s …just a boy. A little boy." Chac opened his arms and revealed the bloody and freshly killed Forsworn child, his body covered in animal skins, filthy. "He tried to kill me..I didn’t want to, I could have stopped myself…but." Cicero didn’t think he could bear to see his Listener this way.

Where Cicero just saw a corpse, Chac saw his son. His Alesan. A little child just trying to survive. The elf began to rock back and forth, cradling the small body. Cicero knelt beside him and placed a Jester glove on his shoulder.

"Oh sweet Listener," Cicero cooed, his voice playfully caring "Where you to let him live, The feral thing surely would have come after you once he’d grown!" 

Chac snapped, baring his sharp teeth at the little Jester “What the FUCK do YOU KNOW?!” He hissed, Cicero falling back on his butt in surprise. 

"Wh-what?!"

"You know NOTHING of compassion. I  _killed_  this child! You where once a little boy, weren’t you?!” Chac’s anger seemingly waned, small droplets of tears clinging to his lashes. He stared down at the face of the boy, reaching up and closing his still-opened eyes. 

"I’m sorry." Cicero peeped, shielding his lips with his wrist. Cicero didn’t quite comprehend why the life of a vermin forsworn made him this way-

“ _I’m sorry._ " Chac repeated him, laying the child on the ground and leaving the tent with Cicero in it. The crazed Jester stared at the boy, shocked by the otherwise kindly Listener’s hateful words. 

He soon made chase to his leader, but now, an otherwise chatty Cicero was utterly silent. Chac didn’t look at him as they left the scene of the crime, and it wasn’t until they’ve reached the road that Cicero thought it best to take the elf by surprise. 

He rushed up behind him, and wrapped his lithe arms around the elf’s armored torso, hugging him. Listener had always hugged him in the past when he was distraught or crying. It always helped. Chac flinched, wide black eyes staring down a the top of the Jester’s hat. 

"What a kindly Listener you are." He remembered back to when Chac was just a stranger on the road, going out of his way to help Cicero. How he spared him when he was ordered to kill him. Cicero was beginning to understand why Chac was the way he was just then. 

"Not a good trait for my profession, I admit…I’m sorry Cicero. There aren’t many things that could make me..you know." 

"It’s okay to cry." Cicero said, funny, that’s exactly what Chac had told him months ago. Chac had to smile helplessly at how things have come full circle. 


End file.
